should not be detained or prosecuted solely
for their association or membership in the group
(see chapter 7 on deprivation of liberty).
In the 2018 Addendum to the 2015
Guiding Principles on Foreign
Terrorist Fighters (S/2018/1177),
the Security Council Counter-Terrorism
Committee specifies that in cases involving
children,
States should ensure that
competent authorities:
•
are provided with appropriate scope for
discretion at all stages of proceedings;
•
have at their disposal a variety of
alternatives to judicial proceedings and
sentencing, including, if appropriate,
age-sensitive child-protection measures;
•
are provided with clear guidelines
with respect to whether, or under what
conditions, they should keep a child in
detention and in which cases diversion
is possible, subject to regulation and
review, in accordance with international
law and national standards, and bearing
in mind that, in cases involving children,
detention should be used as measure of
last resort; and
•
act in accordance with the guidelines
regulating pretrial detention and the
utilization of other measures of restraint,
as provided for in their national criminal
legislation and defined in compliance
with international law.366
6.2 Key Recommendations
180.
The following are recommended:
Decision to investigate and prosecute
a. Children over the age of criminal responsibility
—14, as recommended by the Committee on
the Rights of the Child—may be liable for certain
actions, when credible evidence exists, but
only under internationally recognized justice
and fair trial standards, including juvenile
justice standards that consider a child’s age
at the time of the alleged criminal act.
b. Do not investigate or prosecute a child solely
for the child’s association with or membership
in any group. Children, as victims of recruitment
and use, should not face criminal charges for acts
of association with a designated terrorist group.
Rather, investigate and prosecute adults who
recruit children or who manipulate, coerce or
order them to commit terrorist acts.
c. Do not investigate or prosecute anyone for
crimes committed by family members.
Procedural safeguards
d. Treat all children accused of crimes, including
terrorism related crimes, in a manner consistent
with international juvenile justice and fair trial
standards.
e. During the course of justice proceedings, including trial, consider the coercive environment under
which the child was living or forced to act.
81.
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